


Spirals of Dreaming

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: DreamVerse [4]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-13 20:03:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2163426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Young Justice has their meeting, plus one. The plus one takes the tale to her godfather.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spirals of Dreaming

Bart hadn't really explained much when he popped in at Rose's house. They were still… not admitting that things had gotten serious, but right now, Bart didn't care. The Madisons were good people, but hand-picked by Sarge Steel for a reason. Within ten minutes, the rest of the family was making arrangements for a long vacation, and Rose was cradled in his arms for a run over to the Young Justice headquarters in the Catskills.

"Bart are you going to tell me what is going on?" Rose asked when she got set on her feet. "You told the 'rents to scram because of a big threat to us, but not what it was!"

Bart zipped through the building, making sure it was on lockdown like it should be, finding that the Ray was not in residence. That made it even better… and was absolutely the best when he found out that L'il Lobo was also missing.

It gave him time to think about what he needed to tell her, and what else needed to be done.

Finally, for him, he was back in the main area with Rose, and she was looking at him for the answer to her question.

"I really need to bring my team here," he said. "I know its a school day but I need to warn them, and it's easier to say it all once and I hope you don't mind them meeting you like this but I really need them and you to be safe!" he told her, managing to space his words out.

She bit her lip; she didn't have a real way of hiding who she was, and she'd heard that Robin was freaky-smart. He ran with Nightwing, too, which meant the chances of her being pegged as Deathstroke's daughter were high.

"Hey! You're my … friend," Bart said, just barely stopping himself from saying 'girlfriend'. He missed Carol, wished Rose would get over her dad's stupidity, and really be his like Carol had been. "So are they. They'll be fine. I mean, Wonder Girl has to deal with having Zeus as a dad; how bad can it be to just have a meta-human dad compare to that?"

Rose half-laughed, shaking her head. "Call your friends, or go get them. I'll sit right here."

Bart grinned and leaned in, stealing a kiss (on her cheek), before zipping off. It was so much easier to just go get everyone… including Anita's parents because Maad was at work. He grabbed her first, knowing Rose actually liked babies.

From there it was on to grab Cassie, which would get Greta moving back toward the hotel, and to wheedle Cissie into coming back to at least listen to him. Five minutes after the girls were assembled, he had kidnapped Robin and Kon both, and was pretty pleased about it.

Only now, he had seven teenagers looking at him and each other in a lot of shock and confusion. He had let Robin mask up, but no one else was in costume, and none of them except Robin knew who Rose was. That meant…

"Who is she and why is she in our headquarters?!" exploded out of Kon, looking a little overwhelmed at the number of girls versus the boys in the room.

"Rose Worth," Robin supplied on cue, proving he did know who she was, and getting her to look at him for that very calm recitation of her birth name.

"Madison on paper," she said, shaking her head. "But yeah."

"Okay, Robin knows her, but he knows everyone," Cassie said. "Doesn't explain jerking us here with a stranger and us not in costume… except Robin."

Bart took a deep breath, making his brain slow down enough to make this make sense. "Guys, the world's about to take a huge dive, because I had a dream and it's scary and I need you all here because I have to tell you. It was like the worst virtual reality program I could ever have imagined, and it might only be a dream, but if it isn't then we're all going to lose people and that sucks. Especially when it's part of _our_ team that dies."

"You pulled us all here because you had a _dream_?" Kon asked, fist braced on one hip as he stared at him, "Man, that is nuts, you have bad dreams off old _pizza_." 

"Notlike -- not like this, Kon. Nothing like this," Bart shook his head hard, watching Kon's face. No, no. He needed them to listen, needed them to pay attention. This was big bad Titans things. "And R -- Arsenal called while I was heading to get Rose, and he was freaked, too." 

Rose moved to his side, laying a hand on his shoulder as she shifted to look at his face. "Imp... I haven't -- there's been nothing -- " 

He stared at her, then half-nodded, almost to himself. "Well, no, if you Saw _him_ coming, you wouldn't have gotten -- wouldn't get, hasn't happened yet no matter how real it feels -- hurt so bad." 

"Dad." She said it flatly, in a voice that Cassie and Greta both understood too well. This was someone whose life had been turned upside down by family. Even Cissie flinched a little as she got comfortable in the wing chair.

"Okay, Bart, then you have to tell us, but it's hard for us to think of your dream as being real," Cassie told her friend. "Especially when things have been pretty good lately."

"We'll listen, though," Greta reinforced. "Maybe it is nothing, but maybe… maybe it's a warning, if one of your friends also had it."

He nodded at Cassie, at Greta, but he had to look at Rose, shifting around to where nobody but her could see his face. "Him -- and there was something really wrong with him, too, I think -- but... it was Ravager, first." 

He _hated_ seeing that look on her face, the mix of fury and grief and pain that reminding her of that jerkass she was stuck being related to always brought. He wished he hadn't had to, but she had to know. The pain was only there for a second, maybe less, then her jaw set hard as her shoulders went back. Her face smoothed out like Robin's, and he squeezed her shoulder a little before he moved back around to perch on the end of a couch-arm. He knew he wasn't going to be able to sit still for this. It had taken everything he had just to get his mind off the fact that he was going to … had already? … no, neither… but he knew the pain of losing a Scout, and he couldn't dwell on that at all when Kon's life was at stake!

"We're all going through a lot right now, I know… I mean, you got the parents to raise, Empress, and Slobo's been mucking with things, and life's been pulling us all away from each other, but it really starts -- it starts with there being a mess on Titans' Island, something with the meta kids they've got that comes pretty close to wrecking the Tower completely, I've just gotta hope Arsenal and Damage are on top of that since there's not much we can help with there, but... then there's trouble in NYC. An android from the future and one of the old Superman robots going crazy." 

"Those don't exist anymore," came from Kon as Robin spoke up nearly in time with him.

"Superman had those deactivated… supposedly," was Robin's two cents.

"Yeah, and Harm wasn't ever supposed to be able to hurt me again," Greta reminded them. 

"She's right," Cissie said, seriously wondering why Bart had brought her here, but… there was always her mom, and all the tangles of their lives that could drag them into danger. "Still, you guys don't usually run with the Titans… and if you say that warlock-kid is involved, I am definitely out of here and calling mom to get me."

Bart shook his head. "No, I didn't see him anywhere... I _didn't_ see him anywhere, not in any of it, and that's weird -- but that's not the point, either. Anyway. After some more of us having trouble, Arsenal called some of us, just to talk -- that's how we wind up being there at the same time when the robot and the android hit. It..." 

He darted over to Cassie, pressing close, his arm around her shoulders. "It kills Troia. And Lilith -- Omen, sorry, but she doesn't really care -- too. And Cyborg gets really badly hurt. So do you, 'Nita..." 

"No." Cassie's flat, hard voice and vicious shake of her head defied that possibility, and it reminded Bart of all the ways she and Robin had both gone insane after losing Kon, even before he… 

Nope, Bart was not thinking about that end of the dream. At all.

"It's a dream, Wonder Chick," Rose snapped. "And if both Imp and Arsenal had it, that means there's a strong chance it's a prophecy. Not real keen on those moments I get, but sure as heck not impressed with my boyfriend getting them instead."

Bart didn't even think about moving before he was perched next to Rose, wrapping an arm around her instead of Cassie, pulling her closer, burying his face in her hair for a second. She'd said it! She -- she said it! "I don't like it either," he agreed, wholeheartedly. "It's -- there's _so much_ bad, Rose..." 

He almost missed the five-part harmony of " _Boyfriend_?!", but Robin's voice shocked always managed to get his attention. He looked back up and at them, grinning. "Yeah. This's my girlfriend, Rose Madison." 

Rose, of course, punched him gently in the ribs. "Don't make a big deal of it. Gee Ell ran off planet, and you're not so bad," she teased him lightly, rather than look at all these super-kids staring at them.

"Baby's growing up," Anita said, amused more than anything, even as she checked on her 'babies' still sleeping on the blanket Bart had spread for them.

Cassie just shook her head. "You said Arsenal had the dream… so it's not going to happen, because he's complicated with Troia, and protective. Everyone knows that. So… it won't happen." She was in complete denial mode.

"Wonder Girl," Greta began. "Knowing may not be enough, for just one person. I think we all have to know, so if we see pieces of the pattern building, we can stop it. Just because we shift that, say by Kon going to Superman about the android, doesn't mean the warning won't shift to a new danger, and that's why we have to know all of what Bart does."

"Secret's right," Cissie chimed in. "I may not be doing this anymore, but I want to hear it all, so I can keep mom safe."

Bart rubbed at his ribs and nodded at Greta. "That makes sense. I mean, the other Luthor and Superboy and Doctor Light and the Injustice Society aren't just going to go away, no matter how great that'd be." 

"...'other' Luthor?" Kon asked, his voice thin, and Bart blinked. He hadn't meant to say that yet, hadn't meant to at all. 

"Yeah, there's _lots_ of big bad things coming. Like -- a Crisis like the one that killed Grandpa Barry. Multiple Earths and freaky-colored skies and everything, and people's memories going all kinds of weird." 

Tim looked at Bart, then looked at his team… plus two. Cissie had quit, had made it clear she had quit, but she was here and listening. Rose was almost an enigma to him, but he could learn more later, from Dick. He had no doubts that Dick knew quite a bit about her.

"Okay, Impulse," Robin began. "Start at the top… and everyone jot down notes, so we can chase down all the lines he runs across, okay? Something that big is a threat bigger than our team, but we can be part of bringing it down."

Cassie took a deep breath, then nodded. "You're right, Robin. Sorry; I let my emotions get the better of me." 

"If it was my family, Cassie, I'd be just as bad," Anita said, while Cissie started digging out pads of paper and pens and handing them around. 

Bart rubbed at his temples a little, then took a breath, tucked Rose tighter against his side, and started explaining. 

+++ 

There was a very long silence once Bart wound down… and disappeared in a wild-haired blur to go run off the nervous energy. Tim was even impressed; the speedster hadn't blurred out a single time during the telling, though he had vibrated a little.

When Bart came back in, he didn't go back to where Rose was sitting, but instead zipped over to glare angrily up at Kon, who was standing with his arms crossed, holding onto his own biceps as he dealt with how much of it seemed to be his fault.

"Stop it," Bart said, reaching up to tap him square on the nose, making Kon's eyes cross for a second. "I mean, sure, kick yourself a few times for being _dumb_ enough to listen to anything that slimy jerk has to say, but what he **made** you do isn't your fault -- and you," he turned around to glare at Robin, "you should've been telling him not to listen to any of it in the first place. I might not have gotten to hear it, but even _I_ know you don't listen to secret recordings from the evil bad guys that do freaky things with technology and are totally buddies with Brainiac and the rest of the crazy crowd." 

Robin looked a little sheepish, and rubbed the back of his neck. But even as he was trying to cope with what had been said about Kon, he was thinking about Nightwing. Impulse's memories of the fight in Metropolis were spotty and he'd even said there was this huge gap he thought he was missing before that. So … what was going to happen to his 'big brother'.

"I think I should get all this into the computer and touch base with Nightwing; he may want to read your side of it, Imp, to go with Arsenal's," Robin said. There was a lot about himself… but he could not touch the complexity of emotions surrounding what Bart had glimpsed of Gotham's troubles.

"Not yet," Cassie said. "When we talk to the Titans, you and I both should do it, but right now… I need your brain to help me figure out the best way to protect everyone."

"Rah rah for our fearless leader," Greta said, but she smiled over at Cassie to take the sting out. She was getting more confident about teasing the others.

Rose put her hand against her mouth -- hiding a smile, Bart thought -- while he nodded. "I -- I don't like what I saw, or dreamed, or whatever. I don't like the person it made me, I don't like anything about it -- and the evil future is _totally_ not even happening, no way.. Just... we can't let this happen, y'all. We just can't." 

"An' we're not goin' to, mon," Anita said, appearing almost out of nowhere on his other side. "Not happening." Her dark eyes were almost flat black, her mouth a thin line. "...Maad will just 'ave to pick up more of the 'rent-sitting, 'til we know this is kicked back into its corner." 

Bart breathed out a sigh of relief, reaching up to squeeze her hand. "Good. Good. Just... the more of us that are together, the better, right?" 

"Yes," Cissie said, surprising the others as she said it. "At least being a hero doesn't count as turning pro for my archery, right?"

Cassie's knees wobbled, but she got over to her best friend and hugged her tight enough to make Cissie squeak in protest. 

Bart slumped back against Rose a little more, looking at Cissie's determined jaw. "Sure doesn't -- and awesome. I mean, I liked Speedy fine, but she's **not** our Arrowette, at all." 

Cissie laughed nervously, but she looked at Anita… and the friendship that had bloomed in their last several months promised to be another thing to help them both meet the needs of the team and their lives.

"Let's start planning… and I think it might be best if we tackle Luthor," Robin announced. "He's got to be working from the shadows. So we find his money, and we start shining a bright light on that."

Cassie shrugged, then nodded. "Sounds good… not too direct to get our folks up in arms about risk-taking, but still a good way to start cutting this thing apart."

"Imp said two Luthors, though," Kon said, to remind them that they would be tackling the wrong one, probably. 

"The second one is probably still going to use the first's powerbase," Robin explained. "It's the best part of this for us, since he's the main thing that takes you from us."

Greta nodded her ghostly head. While Imp hadn't mentioned her, and that scared her a little, she was just as keen to help. "Robin's got a good idea."

"I need to go talk to my godfather," Rose said, soft and sober, getting Bart's attention completely.

Bart nodded. He'd only met her godfather once, but he listened better than people thought, and he knew Wintergreen was one of the only people that could get Deathstroke to listen to reason. Or make him stop, if he was just warned quick enough. "I'll take you. I still need to run, and I can't help much with sneaky politics-and-money-stuff, anyway."

"Who?" Greta asked, wanting to not think about why she hadn't been part of Bart's vision.

"His name's Wintergreen," Rose said, and Bart saw Robin start a little -- which was pretty much a yell from anybody else. Robin hadn't known that, then.

"That's not any hero I know," Kon said.

"D'uh, that's cause he's not," Bart retorted with an eyeroll. "He's her godfather… and the only person on the planet that Deathstroke listens to, from anything the Titans ever said about them!"

Rose half-smiled at that, but she shook her head. "He's in danger if my damned father and his brother are planning to screw lives up more," she said. "I have to try and keep that from happening."

Robin nodded a little, and that was good. "We're going to go," Bart said, standing up to gather Rose up in his arms, quick but careful. Running across the Atlantic again might help him calm down some more. 

"Stay in touch!" Cassie called after him, while Rose snuggled in for the long run.

++++

Wintergreen was trying to remember exactly why he had felt the need to come sit on the porch mid-afternoon. Of course, with Slade changing plans on him, and being secretive to boot, had added a state of restlessness to his day. The pair of nomad lions had been spotted recently, which meant his rifle was with him, but the dust cloud stirring was moving far too fast to be one of them. Too fast for the local animals at all, with the blur of color that implied…

...a Titan. It had to be. Which made Slade's texts all the more infuriating to him.

The dust cloud seemed to be wavering a bit from side to side, so it was most likely not West, when suddenly it came straight towards the house. When it stopped, a mere yard or two from the bottom of the steps, Wintergreen's eyes caught up and he found not just Impulse, but his goddaughter cradled in the youngest speedster's arms. Dust was still settling when Rose dropped out of that hold, bolted up the steps, across the porch, and stopped only an inch or so away from him. She looked like she wanted to fling herself at him, and like she was afraid he was going to shatter. 

"...you're okay, you're okay -- " 

"Of course I am, my girl." He stood and drew her in, hugging her close. He did not like that she seemed afraid. Add in her method of arrival, those texts and change of plans from Slade, and he was quite worried. "Come inside, both of you, and tell me what your father has gotten himself into now."

"I don't _care_ what he's gotten himself into," Rose growled against his chest, her arms wrapping tightly around him for a moment, "I just care that you're okay and we're not gonna let you get hurt. Bart had visions. I'm _not okay_ with my boyfriend having visions when I haven't Seen anything for months and months, Wintergreen, this isn't okay! No, sorry, inside, you said inside, and you're right, it's hot. Come on, Bart." 

She let go reluctantly, her fingertips on his arm, his back -- so much like Slade when he was worried, though she would never believe it -- until they were inside and she was perched on the arm of his chair, while the boy fidgeted from foot to foot on the rug. 

"Bart, is it?" Wintergreen asked in a kindly tone. "I know West needs food and drink frequently. Why don't you see what you can find in the kitchen, and bring back water for all of us? There's a tray on the table for such errands." He could tell that Rose did not want him far at all; he'd risk his kitchen to the boy.

"Thank you, sir," Bart said, smiling at the invitation, though he'd blinked a few times at the use of Flash's actual surname. He disappeared off and there were noises from the kitchen a few moments later. 

Rose smiled at him quick and relieved, though she did not stop perching on the arm of his chair as though she were going to throw herself between him and any perceived danger. "Thank you. I don't think he's eaten since he came to get me, and that's not good for him." 

"Can't see that it would be." He settled his hand on the small of her back to help steady her. So like Slade… and it would anger her to no end to know it. "So there are dire portents in the air. Perhaps your boy's visions aren't linked to why Slade skied off his original plan with that woman he's seeing then."

She leaned back into his touch, but she shrugged her shoulders uneasily. "I feel sorry for her, if what Bart saw comes true, since she'd probably be among the dead. He's part of it, a huge part -- I just don't know all of how. Bart didn't, either." 

"Interesting." Wintergreen took a deep breath. He was too damn old for this, but he had Rose to worry about… and his daughter Jo, given that Slade was aware of her more these days. "Brief me on the pertinent information you do have, since I know your mother taught you how to handle information."

She sat up a little straighter, nodding. "It was all the way Bart would have lived it, but I've heard it in full. There's going to be trouble among the Titans, some with Young Justice, and then things are really going to get bad. There's a new Crisis coming, but on the way there my damned uncle is going to try to kill me and -- then, somehow," she shook her head, baffled still by this, "I apparently wind up running around with my father. Bart said I hurt _him_ , hurt several of the Titans." 

Her godfather mulled that over, thinking. "If Wade launched another strike and took out key people again… it could very well push your father past all sanity. But for him to endanger one of his own blood is so irregular that I have to wonder just what other influence is at work in the matter." He petted along her spine, trying to reassure her, even as he struggled to fathom what would push Slade that far. "After the massacre of our former network and your mother, her people… his stepmother? Yes, Wade coming out would be a dangerous thing for him. I'm not young enough to evade the bastard again."

Rose stared at him, looking surprised, and for a moment he wondered why. Slade never put his own in danger if he could help it, that others struck at him through them was hardly his fault, no matter what the boy thought. "I'm not going to let him hurt you," she said, quiet and determined. "I'm not a child anymore. There's more, though." 

"There always is, Rose. As to you not being a child… don't rush to grow up as your father did, please." He looked up at her with an earnest plea in his eyes. "Now finish your briefing."

Rose nodded. "He saw Troia and Omen dying, me disappearing after Ravager attacked my family -- they're already moving, we're making that impossible," she said quickly, then went on. "Then a new Titans' team on the West Coast because they're apparently putting a metahuman prison on Alcatraz Island?" She cocked a brow at him, but went on. "One of the first things that happened to them was Dad hitting them like a ton of bricks, except Bart remembers Jericho..." she shrugged, confused. 

"Joseph?" Wintergreen's sharp tone turned to a long, introspective look. "That… oh dear heavens, that is the worst thing imaginable! Not your brother still existing, but what it means in that he might!" He tried to think of whom could fix that… he had no way to contact Tempest, Raven was gone, and Omen… was young, untried, and tainted by her association with Savage. "Damn it all."

"Godfather?" 

"What'swrong?" came from the boy, appearing in the doorway -- with the tray and glasses of water, at least -- "what is it? I mean, other than _everything_...." 

"If Jericho exists still… it is very likely that those abominations that took control of him do as well, and they'd love dearly to destroy Slade, the Titans...anyone involved in that Hunt."

"...oooh..." the boy wavered on his feet, but he carefully put the tray down on a table before he could spill the glasses. "That -- but why wouldn't Raven have thought of that? Or Cyborg and Be -- no, he hasn't changed names back yet -- Changeling? I know some of those stories..." 

Wintergreen acquired a glass, handed it to Rose, then took the other for himself. "Too many things? Another case of no one using logic?" He shook his head. "So many things expanded too fast in the past; it may be the same."

"Robin handles the logic," the boy said, sounding as though he found that natural. 

"Let us pray he does not fall prey to G… Nightwing's habit of being too stressed or busy when things explode to catch it fast enough," Wintergreen said darkly.

The boy's hands flexed nervously, and Rose put her glass down to reach out and wrap her free arm around him. "Bart, we're not going to let it happen. You warned him, he knows what not to let happen. He's gonna be okay." 

The elder man watched that, then sighed. "Young man, I have found that foreknowledge is the best weapon against these things. We will use what you to know to help everyone involved come through it safely, though events changing will no doubt open new dangers."

Rose kept the boy in that one-armed hug for another long moment, then kissed his cheek. "Wintergreen's right. And I'm not done telling, though that makes some more sense out of what you said about my father, Bart. If he really wasn't himself, then it makes it easier to believe that he'd work with that many of the 'supervillains', though that's never been his way, has it, Wintergreen?"

"Cuts the profit margin too much to invite competitors to the party, not to mention the costs of operating that near to the hero community," Wintergreen said with a blithe disregard for Bart's heroic principles. "So, no. And now, if you would my dear girl, continue?"

Rose nodded and rolled her shoulders and began again, with the boy nodding at points, almost vibrating at others as she laid out a bone-chilling sequence of events. Events that seemed to fall hardest on the children, though that might only be the boy's perceptions. He had little love for the Justice League, less for the Justice Society, but that they would only stand by while the children fought seemed unlikely. 

At least until Rose came to part of the tale that she had to clench her fists to tell, her entire body radiating fury, and Wintergreen began quietly adding names to a carefully held list. A pity, he had almost had that list down to nothing -- if he was good at one thing, it was outliving his enemies -- and now he was too old to do anything about the matter and had a half-dozen names that should be dealt with. To leave that kind of filth alive.... 

That list would just have to go into safer hands than his old ones, he decided, knowing a few allies that might be willing to take up the cause of just retribution. 

"I am surprised at one of those names," Wintergreen finally said. "I thought the man had a sense of honor and prudence in such matters." His lips tightened into a hard line. "But… it remains that they did."

"Which one?" Rose asked, curious. "Not Hawkman, though... that might explain part of my vision of him and my father at war through decades -- but if Deathstroke fought _for_ that kind of scum..." 

"Green Arrow." He petted at her hair, knowing she was still fond of Harper -- despite the bad blood there -- and shook his head. "He's willingly worked with your father a couple of times in a most practical fashion. One of those times led to a lovely visit with your mother, actually."

"He came and told us," the boy said, his mouth tight. "Well, Cyborg anyway. Everything he knew, Vic thought, and not just because of Speedy. That -- it doesn't help, _nothing_ helps, I -- " He broke off, shaking, and Rose wrapped him up again, her hand petting through his hair as she murmured quietly to him. 

Of course. He was an Allen, and Rose had said that that Flash had been a deciding factor in that travesty. 

"I am sorry, young man, for the blow that must be for you," Wintergreen told him softly and with true empathy. "That one has paid for the crime, though, and cannot answer to us now."

Rose nodded, but it did not cool her rage at the rest of them. "I know Canary, slightly, but she's a … dingbat is a good word for it sometimes. Dotes on Lian and Roy both, but not all there maybe. That she let it go on with her connections there is unforgivable," Rose said in a low tone.

He agreed with that, and he nodded, his hand light on her shoulder. A woman that doted on Harper, on the child, and she had let -- Rose had the right of it there. 

"News of that would terrify the darker side of the costumed community," he said, half to himself, and Rose and the boy both nodded sharp and intent -- a little more panic on the boy's face than on Rose's, of course. She hissed out an angry breath and went on again, laying out where things had gone from there. 

He listened, planning, using his knowledge of the people on the darker side of life to predict against things the boy hadn't been able to see in his dreams. It all added up to a very ugly situation, and he was going to need to be closer to the one group he could trust on the heroic side of the line. "I need to speak to Nightwing. First and foremost. He will have the best head for averting the Titans' side of events, so long as he can be warned quickly enough."

"I guess I could ask Robin for a contact number?" the boy offered, scratching at the nape of his neck and his hair. 

Wintergreen snorted at him, shifting enough to reach for his phone on the nearby side table. "I have had it for some time, young man. My path and the Titans' have been tangled for more years than you've been in our era."

He did rather enjoy the boy's very startled blink, and Rose's momentarily wide eyes. 

"I don't even know how to get hold of Robin except by comm and he's my teammate, and you -- you're, well, _you_ and you've got Nightwing's number? Rose, this is weird." 

Rose laughed, amused, and reached out to ruffle his hair, while Wintergreen tapped out Grayson's number, still smiling faintly to himself. 

Almost enough rings later that he was going to get the boy's voicemail, a voice he would not have expected answered him. "Wintergreen?" 

His oldest friend's voice, taut and utterly controlled except for a faint trace of surprise. 

//He went to the boy… what is going on?// "Not exactly who I was trying for, but an interesting person to answer," he said affably. "Is the boy indisposed?" Perhaps Slade would give him some hint, one way or the other, as to how safe it was to talk at this point. If those things were in his dear friend… they could all be in mortal peril.

"That's one way to put it," Slade agreed, and Wintergreen could almost hear his old friend's wary confusion. "Why --" He paused for a long moment. "Rose is with you?" 

//Canny.// "I have spoken with her," Wintergreen admitted, while signing for complete silence on the part of the other two. "Your change of venue took you to New York or the BludHaven?"

"New York," Slade answered, and Wintergreen could just barely hear his weight shifting against a surface. "I'm all right, Wintergreen. Do you want me to put Tempest on the line to confirm it?" 

Wintergreen's eyes narrowed. Yes, that would allay his suspicions… but if they had Jericho? Tempest could be compromised by now. How to discern the heart of the matter? Dammit, but he was far too old for this shadowplay. "Certainly."

He heard "Garth" a little more distant, and then Tempest's voice. "Hi, Wintergreen. Imp to Rose to you, yeah? I know he's one of the ones that got the same set of nightmares Slade did." 

That… that was logical, for certain values. "What can you tell me? Yes, the phone is secure."

"Figured," Garth said, then blew out a breath. "Hang on, let me go wander out in the hall so nobody has to listen to this again -- we're all pretty out of cope, frankly --" 

He could catch the edges of Garth's movements and the closing of a door. "All right, I'm out of there now. I can tell you I got called to deal with the Spirits of Azarath that were hanging out in Wilson just waiting to be able to totally screw up _everyone's_ lives. I dealt with those things, we don't have to worry about them any more. And... _I_ think we've got a good chance to save Joey, even though Wilson won't believe it." 

Wintergreen's breath exploded out; the way it was stated and the fond emotions… that could not be an illusion, surely. "Thank all the powers, Tempest. Then your team is on top of what it needed to head all of this off?"

"...if we can ever get Roy and Dick out of shell-shock, I think we're pretty decently situated? And since the Spectre is apparently out dealing with that -- rotted piece of bilge scum -- that's one of the major things headed off. And Wilson is... pretty damned determined to help, too. So there's that." 

"I would pray that the Spectre deals with **all** the guilty in that matter," Wintergreen said sharply. "And of course he is; your team is the closest to family he's allowed himself at times."

" -- oh, hell," Garth said. "Of course Bart'd think -- that -- " he went off into Atlantean profanity, nothing Wintergreen could translate, for several long moments. "It wasn't just Light that got scrambled that day. The -- woman -- " his voice was more a growl than anything Wintergreen had ever heard from him " -- who cast those magics spun her vile net wide. GA, GL, Canary, they got tampered with too. That's not just from her, it's from Martian Manhunter, he confirmed it for us." 

That was interesting, wasn't it? "Well, then. Rose may be a little less murderous once I inform her," he said to that. "Very well. Is the boy needed… or Rose, for that matter, since I presume your child and Harper's are present?"

"Rose's -- oh. She would be, wouldn't she? Yeah, _please_ calm her down. ....We sure wouldn't mind having Rose here, but Dolphin's got the kids for now, and I'm pretty sure he wants to be with his team more than with us. If I'm wrong, he's always welcome, though. Anything else you need? Or want?" 

//My boy? My youth so I can be of use?// Wintergreen discarded both thoughts of whimsy. "I believe that will do it. Once Slade is capable of leaving the boy's side, do invite him to call me. And if there is anything that Vigilance Inc can do for this whole mess, channel the requests my way; Trayce still speaks to me." //She'd better, as I still fund a good bit of the merged company.//

"I'll tell him," Garth agreed easily, "But... it might be a while. Stoplight went to pieces as soon as Wilson walked in -- and I thought he already _was_. ...and thanks for the offer. I'll take you up on it. This is no time for us to be stupid." 

"Then keep your head in place, Tempest, and we'll go from here," Wintergreen said before hanging up. He looked at Rose and Bart both, sighing. "Your father had the nightmare and apparently did something exceedingly rare by using sense and calling for Tempest."

Bart had to giggle at the way Wintergreen said it, but he felt a wash of relief too, trying not to feel the phantom pain of his knee again.

Rose stared at him in shocked surprise. "He... wow. I'm almost impressed. What am I going to be 'less murderous' about, once you tell me?" She cocked her head, much of her mother's expression in her face. 

"According to Tempest, and apparently verified by the telepath on the League, three of the League members are not at fault for events, having had their own minds tampered with," Wintergreen said. "The ones that associate with Harper, actually."

Bart had to almost run a lap for that, but he held himself still. "That's gonna help so much with Flash! Because it was GL that took him in when my grandfather died. And he really, really looked up to my granddad…" So did Bart. It was a thing. To overcome being related to Professor Zoom, he and XS both had taken pride in their grandfather's legacy. Now… that was a tarnished blot.

Wintergreen nodded after a moment. "I can see where it would help, then." 

"...I guess they couldn't check on your granddad since he's been dead for so long?" Rose half-said, half-asked, her arm wrapping around him again. "I mean, if she was messing with that many people already..." 

Kinder than he would have been, but then, she did care greatly for the boy. And it would not be a bad thing if it did turn out to be true. He wasn't sure if he believed it, there was always something beneath a shining visage, but they were both young. He was glad to be able to take a few names back off that list, as well. 

"Yeah, maybe…" Bart took a deep breath. "So, if your dad's not nuts, and he's gonna be on the good side, and all… we can go back to my team?"

"Tempest said you would be welcome, but felt that would be your choice," Wintergreen told him. "Rose, Dolphin is caring for the children, but if you are feeling kindly toward the team, you might want to go by at some point to be sure they do not suffer from the stress of the team. Also, your eyes and ears on the situation would be appreciated by me, since I cannot easily travel there," he said, admitting just how much he hated this to himself one more time.

"...I'll go see what I can see," Rose said, kissing his cheek lightly. "But I'm probably going to stick closer to YJ -- since that's where Bart's going to be." 

Wintergreen smiled fondly at her. "As you will, dear girl. Just remember that your father is abysmal these days at briefing me. Between that girlfriend of his and him not wanting me to get caught up in anything I can't handle!" Wintergreen snorted, and patted the rifle by his chair that he'd brought in when they arrived.

Rose snorted, started to say something, and bit at the inside of her lip to keep the words behind her teeth. "I'll do better," she promised, before she stood up. "Okay, Bart. Let's get back to your team with the latest news." 

"Okay." Bart was not unhappy at bringing back that news either. "Thank you Mister Wintergreen for your help! And the food! I cleaned up too!"

"That's alright, lad… and be mindful of my girl there? In all ways." He managed to load ominous father-figure in his voice, and got the pleasure of seeing the boy pale before zipping off with Rose.

+++

Far away, deep in space where the slowly rebuilding Corps did not patrol, a sleek ship rocketed toward Earth, its pilot and sole occupant ravaged by fear and grief half-remembered from a dream that had been too real.

Koriand'r needed her real family, her team, and she just prayed she made it in time.


End file.
